The Governance Process

The governance process of the SubQuery Network is continually evolving and constantly updated and refined through the use of SubQuery Meta Proposals (SMPs).

Decision Making

Over time, the Foundation aims to transition to a more comprehensive structure, distributing tasks among specialised subcommittees to ease the decision-making burden on core Foundation members. This evolution will ensure more efficient governance and allow each subcommittee to focus on key areas, ultimately leading to a more streamlined and effective oversight of the SubQuery Network's growth and operations.

This might include the following subcommittees, responsible for various areas but ultimately accountable to the SubQuery Foundation:

• Grant Committee: Hackathons, development grants, and other key allocation of Treasury funding within a certain pre-authorised grant budget
• Technical Committee: Monitor system accounts and wallets, and make decisions on day to day parameter changes in the network or key contract changes.
• Marketing, BD, and Community: Organise community events, outreach, and make decisions and allocate marketing spend within a certain pre-authorised grant budget.

SubQuery Proposal Structure

In order to streamline the communication and documentation process for governance, it is proposed that the Foundation operate through the following three proposal mechanisms.

• SubQuery Meta Proposals (SMP): Proposals that discuss governance matters
• SubQuery Product Proposals (SPP): Proposals that discuss product and technical matters
• SubQuery Treasury Proposals (STP): Proposals that discuss SQT Treasury allocation matters

For any proposal to be put to vote, a post should be made in https://forum.subquery.network. As the proposal is made as a forum post, discussion may happen underneath the post.

SubQuery Meta Proposals (SMPs)

SubQuery Meta Proposals (SMPs) are designed as a vehicle to suggest and document changes to the governance process. The purpose of this category is to make governance self-correcting, and changes to the governance process transparent.

SMPs allow the governance process to be accessible and simple as to not gatekeep contributions, and transparent as to ensure confidence and trust in the process.

SMPs are immutable. Once a SMP receives a passing or failing vote, the contents of the SMP are considered final or frozen. To make changes or override a previously passed SMP, a new SMP must be created that supersedes the original.

To be put to vote, a post must be made in the Foundation category of our Forum. As the proposal is made as a forum post, discussion may happen underneath the post.

Proposal Format

The title of the SMP must start with SMP-X, where X is the SMP number (ie. SMP-1). The SMP number must increase in order (eg. a SMP posted after SMP-1 must be named SMP-2).

Under the title should be the header. Header fields include:

• Author: Author of the proposal
• Created: Creation date in YYYY-MM-DD
• Status:
  • Draft: Proposal made, but not voted on
  • Voting: A vote is ongoing
  • Included: Passed vote
  • Rejected: Failed vote
  • Superseded: Proposal has been replaced by a new proposal

The SMP must contain the following sections:

• Motivation - The reason for making this change
• Description - A description of what the change is

Past SMPs

• SMP-1: Included

SubQuery Product Proposal (SPP)

SubQuery Product Proposals (SPPs) are how token holders might suggest which features are to be built into the SubQuery Network, and what changes to key parameters should be made to improve the operation of the network. This aims to make the roadmap more collaborative and ensures that SubQuery is a network of the people.

Examples include changing key network parameters, adding new features to the official network app, supporting new layer-1s, or making changes to the SDK.

SPPs may often specify funding from the SubQuery Treasury to develop and implement the specified feature. It's important that we attract the best developers to the SubQuery Network through suitable compensation for their hard work.

To be put to vote, a post must be made in the Foundation category of our Forum. As the proposal is made as a forum post, discussion may happen underneath the post.

Proposal Format

The title of the SPP must start with SPP-X, where X is the SPP number (ie. SPP-1). The SPP number must increase in order (eg. a SPP posted after SPP-1 must be named SPP-2).

Under the title should be the header. Header fields include:

• Author: Author of the proposal
• Created: Creation date in YYYY-MM-DD
• Status:
  • Draft: Proposal made, but not voted on
  • Voting: A vote is ongoing
  • Planned: Passed vote
  • Rejected: Failed vote
  • Completed: Change is implemented and deployed

The SPP must contain the following sections:

• Motivation - Why include this feature, including use cases
• Description - What the feature is
• Implementation - Technical details on how to include this feature

Past SPPs

• None yet, create our first one!

SubQuery Treasury Proposals (STPs)

SubQuery Treasury Proposals (STPs) may be how token holders decide how large capital allocations are made. Examples include grants, allocation of SQT to certain reward streams and capital allocation to ecosystem development programmes. This is intentionally left broad to allow a wide variety of capital allocations from the Treasury where it makes sense to help the project and network.

To be put to vote, a post must be made in the Foundation category of our Forum. As the proposal is made as a forum post, discussion may happen underneath the post.

Proposal Format

The title of the STP must start with STP-X, where X is the STP number (ie. STP-1). The STP number must increase in order (eg. a STP posted after STP-1 must be named STP-2).

Under the title should be the header. Header fields include:

• Author: Author of the proposal
• Created: Creation date in YYYY-MM-DD
• Status:
  • Draft: Proposal made, but not voted on
  • Voting: A vote is ongoing
  • Planned: Passed vote
  • Rejected: Failed vote
  • Completed: Capital has been deployed

The STP must contain the following sections:

• Motivation - The reason for allocating capital
• Description - What the capital allocation is, what the milestones will be
• Implementation - How this capital will be moved, to what accounts will it be paid to and under what exchange rate (if relevant)

Past STPs

• None yet, create our first one!